Locals wary of new state gun bill

Gov. Jerry Brown Wednesday signed legislation funding the California Department of Justice to confiscate guns from the wrong owners with money used to provide background checks for people purchasing firearms.

Gov. Jerry Brown Wednesday signed legislation funding the California Department of Justice to confiscate guns from the wrong owners with money used to provide background checks for people purchasing firearms.

The law, Senate Bill 140, will sweep a surplus of $24 million from the Dealer of Record Systems into the state DOJ to hire additional agents and support staff, according to a news release from the state Attorney General's office.

The appropriated funds will be used to enforce the state DOJ's Armed Prohibited Persons System program. The APPS used databases to cross-reference individuals not allowed to possess a firearm against legally registered gun owners.

California's Justice Department categorizes prohibited persons by those who committed felonies and the mentally ill deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. California doctors and hospitals are required to report the latter under state law.

The bill was authored by Democratic State Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco.

DROS fees are an obligatory cost when purchasing a gun and funds the background check required under federal and state laws. The current fee is $19, raised from $14 in 2004.

Attorney General Kamala Harris commended Brown on signing the legislation and commented on paving the way forward.

“California is leading the nation in a common-sense effort to protect public safety by taking guns away from dangerous, violent individuals who are prohibited by law from owning them,” said Harris. “These funds will allow the Department of Justice to increase the number of agents conducting these smart and effective operations.”

A few elected leaders criticized the decision to re-appropriate funds for the purpose, including strong opposition from Assemblywoman Shannon Grove of Bakersfield.

“Politicians in Sacramento are going to use the millions of dollars illegally collected from Dealer Record of Sales transactions to fund the expansion of one more government program,” Grove stated via email Thursday. “This money is supposed to go to background checks when someone purchases a gun, not growing state bureaucracy.”

Grove has advocated the rights for legal gun ownership, including at an April 25 Patriots Day forum in Ridgecrest. She voted against the law when it came up for a vote in the Assembly.

“We do need to take weapons out of the hands of the people who shouldn’t possess them, but this is a misuse of state funds and that’s why I opposed the bill,” Grove stated Thursday.

In a separate instance state Sen. Jean Fuller, along with 30 other Californian Republican lawmakers, had called for an audit by the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee on the DROS account in light of years of recorded surpluses.